Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Valeo Pharma Inc.'s fourth quarter 2021 results conference call. At this time, note that all participants' lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentations, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. Also note that the call is being recorded on March 1st, 2022. I would like to turn the conference over to Frederic Dumais.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Presenting with me today on the call are Mr. Steve Saviuk, our CEO, Mr. Frederic Fasano, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Mr. Luc Mainville, our Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin our fourth quarter and year-end 2021 results conference call, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call may contain certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's expectations or future events. Such expectations are based on certain assumptions that are founded on currently available information. If these assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this conference call. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as required by security laws.
I'd like to pass the call over to our CEO, Mr. Saviuk. Please go ahead, Steve.
Thank you, Fred. Good morning to you all, and thank you for joining us for the fourth quarter and year-end 2021 results and highlights conference call. I will start by quickly reviewing our fourth quarter highlights and recent milestones. Then I'll pass the microphone over to Frederic Fasano, our President and COO, who will provide more details on our commercial achievements and successes for the year, as well as our ongoing commercial initiatives. Following which, our Senior VP and CFO, Luc Mainville, will provide a short review of the quarter and year-end results before opening up the call to questions from financial analysts. Well, 2021 results were reported last night, and it was a year of significant development and growth for Valeo Pharma. It was a year of record revenues. We posted CAD 13.6 million top line, an increase of over 81% from 2020.
For the first time in our history, our gross margins reached CAD 4 million. Our fourth quarter revenues were 53% higher than for the same period last year. It was a year where Valeo Pharma positioned itself for revenue and profit growth for the years to come. We launched three key products in 2021, Redesca, Enerzair, and Atectura. All of these products had an impact on our 2021 revenues to varying degrees. Redesca was launched mid-year in end of April. Touched a bit of the second quarter and then contributed more significantly in the third and fourth quarters. This is currently our leading selling product by way of sales, and we estimate peak revenues of Redesca to be achieved in by 2024 and to attain approximately CAD 30 million of revenue.
Currently for 2021 and probably for all of 2022, Redesca will be our chief revenue growth driver. Enerzair and Atectura were launched in the last quarter of the year, so they had very limited impact in 2021. Revenues from launch and prescriptions from launch are up month-over-month. We're seeing very nice uptake of these two products. We continue to believe that both products have a total peak revenue potential of over CAD 100 million, making them in years 2023 and 2024 they should attain our leading product status and will be our key revenue drivers in those years and onward. One of the very important aspects and achievements we realized during the year and in the latter half of the year was public and private reimbursement.
Our three key products are now significantly reimbursed by most private insurance companies across Canada and with an increasing extent, public reimbursement. We had just announced Ontario last week for Enerzair and Atectura, Quebec prior to that. Frederic Fasano will talk to a greater extent of on those reimbursement issues. All to say that now with our existing product portfolio, we expect peak revenue potential to exceed CAD 125 million to be achieved over the course of the next 4-5 years. A significant increase from our start of the year. When I look back, if I turn the clock back to this time last year, where our peak revenue expectations were in the vicinity of CAD 30 million-CAD 40 million. A significant jump for the current year.
Having key products and driving revenue growth is obviously very important for any pharmaceutical company. We believe we have three products that certainly will become among the leaders in Canada in their respective categories. To support that growth for this year and for the years to come, we need to put into place, and we have put into place, several significant structural items within the company. We've implemented a new corporate structure with two business units and two business unit head managers who have extensive experience in their respective therapeutic areas.
We've launched a nationwide field force comprised of over 70 sales representatives, medical liaisons, and regional sales managers. Our total headcount has grown from approximately 30 individuals at the beginning of 2021 to now well over 100 field force and management of the company. This year, we've also had significant financing successes. We've raised more than CAD 43 million, which for the first time puts Valeo Pharma on a significantly strong financial footing to support the growth that we expect to be coming over the coming years and also to support other opportunistic endeavors. Valeo is positioned for significant revenue expansion, and we have a resolute focus on cash management and achieving and attaining profitability by the end of the year.
It's one of our top focuses right now. We have the products. We have the people. We are executing. We have a strong eye on the bottom line, and we've said it now for several months that by the end of 2022, we expect to be cash flow positive. Again, our focus is resolute on that. With that, I'd like to turn the mic over to Frederic Fasano, our President and COO, who will give you a bit more detail and color on the implementation of our new corporate structure, launch of our key products and our latest accomplishments. Over to you, Fred.
Hey, Steve, thank you very much and good morning to all on the line this morning. It is my pleasure today to report on the 21 operational milestones we delivered and to share with you our excitement when we look at 2022 and the coming years at Valeo. The first point I want to elaborate a little bit on is to report on the commercial launches of our three transformative products, namely Redesca, our low molecular weight heparin biosimilar and Enerzair Breezhaler and Atectura Breezhaler, our two innovative asthma products. As you all know, when we are dealing with chronic disease treatment options, private as well as public coverage are key components of a successful product launch. 2021 was great year for Valeo on that front. We succeeded in record time to secure extensive private and public coverage for our three lead products.
Redesca is now covered in all Canadian provinces but one, and in excess of 90% of private payers. The last jurisdiction will be added very soon as we are currently under discussion. Overall, the time between marketing authorization of Redesca by Health Canada and completing the public coverage will be less than 12 months if we exclude this last jurisdiction. The point here is that it compares very favorably with industry standards, which usually are more close to 24 to 36 months. Furthermore, our two asthma drugs, Enerzair and Atectura, are now covered in many provinces which altogether represent 80% of the Canadian population, while also being privately covered in more than 90% of the private payers.
Here again, time from PCPA, pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance or Pharmaceutical Alliance, the letter of intent that they issued last September, time to full public coverage will be approximately six months, which is an absolute record time in my own experience. Our team did a great job to rapidly secure such an extensive coverage for our core products. From the operation standpoint, we did recruit last year our nationwide sales force, which is fully operational since last summer, for both business lines. Despite the COVID-19 constraints, our team succeeded to put in place a field-based launching activity equivalent to 80% of what were the industry standards before COVID-19, and that is on primary care physicians, whereas 60% of this activity was developed on specialists.
All in all, 75% of this activity is taking place in person with primary care physicians and 50% in person as well with specialists. To support efficiently this customer facing activity, a digital platform has been implemented, allowing to reach out either remotely or in person. It includes different tools such as virtual detailing, remote meeting platform, email management and sampling. Nowadays, our Redesca team is covering more than 200 hospitals to get Redesca listed on hospital formularies and our spec and GP respiratory team is calling on more than 10,000 key asthma prescribers, among which pulmonologists, allergists, pediatricians and primary care physicians. From a product standpoint, as Steve mentioned, Redesca has become our best-selling product, with new orders coming in from more and more hospitals. The combination of all enoxaparin biosimilars have already eroded 25% of the originator market, in this case Lovenox.
Redesca is the number one biosimilar so far with 56% of all biosimilar sales, which is equivalent to 40% of all enoxaparin market. We anticipate this trend to accelerate in 2022 as we continue building momentum with additional hospital listings. The launch of Enerzair Breezhaler and Atectura Breezhaler went well, and we can already see real progress with demand and sales increasing on a month-over-month basis. As of today, 1,200 patients are currently treated by either Enerzair or Atectura. At the end of December 2021, 150 medical doctors started to prescribe one of the two or eventually both products, generating a total number of scripts of 1,122.
Current trends are projecting 8,000 units per month by the end of our fiscal 2022, but the impact of all public coverages, in particular the one we have recently obtained, have not yet been seen. A patient reported to her doctor the following after being put on Enerzair: "I never felt so good and so relieved in my many years of asthma. I felt my lungs are so open from first few minutes that I could do my house stairs without any effort, and I never slept this well." All in all, positive feedback coming from doctors but also from patients. Numerous medical meetings were organized, including a series of ad boards conducted with top key opinion leaders across Canada to share and discuss the large amount of clinical data available on both products.
We will continue to educate the medical community going forward on the significant benefits these two drugs provide to asthma sufferers. We held various commercial activities on product detailing, lunch and learn, digital marketing, and patient support program, and we can see a growing product adoption as the medical community become more and more aware of the benefits provided by both products. The second point I wanna comment on this morning is as mentioned by Steve, the profound transformation that we have seen over 2021 at Valeo. A new corporate structure has been redesigned and completed during the fourth quarter of 2021 and is since fully operational. Valeo is now organized around two different business units, Respiratory and Specialty Products, led by industry veterans and staffed with industry skilled and experienced people.
Both business units are now operating in support of our branded product. Two products are part of the respiratory business unit, and six are part of the specialty product business unit, operating therefore in thrombosis, oncology, and neurology mainly. We also have a hospital generic division that includes our generic product, mainly sold through hospital tenders without any active promotional support. We went through significant headcount growth to properly staff our two business units. It was a strategic imperative for Valeo to attract the right talent to properly launch its three transformative products, but even more so to prepare the addition of future products. I'm very happy to report that we succeeded in attracting top pharma leaders coming from a variety of multinational companies, leaders who are now fully embracing the challenge of building Valeo as a leading Canadian pharma company.
We now have in place everything required to meet and exceed our ambitious growth objectives and also position Valeo as a leading company in its key therapeutic areas. Looking ahead, I see a structure that we will be able to leverage to rapidly grow our revenues, provide additional innovative drugs to Canadian patients, while creating significant value for all our stakeholders. Last but certainly not least, with everything we built, implemented, and accomplished in 2021, and the quality of our team in place, we are now very well positioned to accelerate our growth, our profitability, as well as our footprint as a top-tier Canadian pharma company. Our business development team is hard at work to source new opportunities and bring complementary product to Valeo. One priority for our team is bringing innovative product which can be rapidly accretive on the revenue front.
The recent deals we have been able to close have obviously provided credibility and visibility to Valeo as one of the go-to Canadian pharma companies. We intend to fully leverage our medical and commercial platform, not only to deliver significant growth in 2022, but also in the coming years. We also want to accelerate our quest to become a profitable company that will deliver significant value creation. The three pillars of growth are as follows. The right corporate structure and team, the right products enjoying large private and public reimbursement, and the right investors supporting our growth and midterm vision. These pillars are all solidly in place and ready for delivery of catalyst and milestones once again. 2021 was a tipping point in building the framework for our strong future.
2022 will be the year where we start to see the benefits of all our hard work and the strengths of our business model. I want to personally thank everyone on our team at Valeo for a great 2021 and what we believe will be an even better 2022. This concludes the product preview section of our call, and I will now pass it over to Luc for a complete review of our quarterly and yearly financial results. Thank you.
Thank you, Fred. Net revenues in Q4 2021 increased significantly over Q4 2020 at CAD 3.4 million compared to CAD 2.2 million. The 53% increase resulted from the addition of several new products such as Redesca and to a lesser extent, Enerzair and Atectura, which were formally launched in the later part of Q4 2021 following the creation of our respiratory business unit. Our Q4 2021 sales of Redesca were material, but lower than the preceding quarter due to very strong pipeline fill that boosted our revenues in Q3 2021. Following the said pipeline fill, client demand for Redesca continued to grow as Valeo made continued progress with securing GPO arrangements and hospital contracts, which led to a more recurrent sales pattern in the later part of Q4 2021.
Subsequent to the end of Q4, monthly sales of Redesca have continued to trend upward and have set the stage for recurrent quarterly growth based on market share gains. Similarly, Enerzair and Atectura sales have benefited from the pipeline fill-in effect in Q3 2021. Following the commercial relaunch of these products in the last month of Q4, sales of Enerzair and Atectura are growing weekly and are now having a material impact on our results. With private reimbursement now exceeding 90% and public coverage being secured in all key provinces, but one so far, demand for these products is accelerating rapidly. For the fiscal year 2021 period, Valeo posted record net revenues of CAD 13.6 million, up 81% compared to CAD 7.5 million for fiscal year 2020.
Same as for Q4 2021, the annual increase in revenue was mainly due to the addition of new products such as Redesca and Enerzair and Atectura, as well as the full year contribution of products launched during the prior year, including Ametop, Yondelis, Hesperco, and Sodium Ethacrynate in the U.S., which were all launched in the second half of fiscal year 2020 and contributed to our results for the full year 2021. Gross margin now. Our gross margin ratio for Q4 was similar to Q4 2020 at 21% compared to 20%. The improvement in product mix was offset by the increase in amortization costs. Following the launch of Enerzair and Atectura, we started amortizing the Novartis license fee in Q3 2021.
Despite a similar gross margin performance between the two quarters, our gross margin contribution in dollars for Q4 2021 was up 60% compared to last year's Q4 performance due to the 53% increase in revenue. Due to the significant growth of our revenue and improvement of our revenue mix over last year, our gross margin contribution and gross margin ratio have increased significantly during fiscal year 2021 as compared to the prior year. During the last year, the improvement of our product mix has boosted our gross margin ratio from 18%- 29%.
The 11% improvement, combined with the strong 81% increase in our revenues, has led to a 186% increase in our gross margin contribution in fiscal year 2021 at CAD 4 million, compared with CAD 1.4 million for fiscal year 2020, representing a CAD 2.6 million improvement. Amortization of license fees represented 2% of revenues for each of Q4 2021 and Q4 2020, as well as 3% for each of fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 periods. Now we'll discuss our operating expenses and starting with our sales and marketing expenses. Sales and marketing expenses for Q4 were CAD 4.2 million, compared to CAD 0.3 million for Q4 2020. Sales and marketing expenses for fiscal year 2021 were CAD 8.2 million compared to CAD 1.8 million in the prior year.
Sales and marketing expenses have increased in Q4 and fiscal year 2021 compared to the prior year periods following the expansion of our commercial team and the creation of our respiratory business unit. Going forward, sales and marketing expenses will decrease as a percentage of revenue as we capitalize on the market opportunity for each of our products. We expect to achieve peak sales of CAD 30 million-CAD 35 million for Redesca by fiscal year 2024, as well as combined peak sales of CAD 100 million for Enerzair and Atectura by fiscal year 2025, 2026. More than half of the Q4 2021 increase of CAD 3.7 million was due to the addition of our sales force.
The balance of the increase was related to promotion and marketing activities, as well as costs for sampling, creation and production of marketing programs and material, documentation, and to a lesser extent, field activities. Also, our fiscal year 2021 sales and marketing costs included a series of non-recurrent expenses that are typical of new product launches, such as CAD 0.8 million for hiring charges due to the hiring of new staff as compared to nil last year, as well as marketing material spend cost for material related to market data, scientific prints, and branding. Some of these non-recurrent expenses have been deducted from our adjusted EBITDA calculation. Note that the costs related to sample and marketing materials are now expensed on purchase and cannot be amortized.
Such costs have totaled CAD 0.3 million in fiscal year 2021 versus nil in the prior year. Over time, we expect costs for sampling, marketing material, and other sales and marketing expenses to be more representative of recurrent spending and to trend downward as a percentage of revenue. Now for G&A. The increase in general and administration expenses for each of Q4 2021 and year- to- date 2021, as compared to the prior year periods, results from the addition of head office personnel required to support the strong growth, which was anticipated for fiscal year 2021 and beyond.
Following the creation of our new corporate structure, we have created several key head office positions to support our new business model. The new structure, which includes two newly created respiratory and specialty business units, was completed prior to Q4 2021 and will provide significant leverage over the coming years. Consequently, G&A expenses as a percentage of net revenue will trend downwards starting fiscal year 2022. Note that starting Q3 2021, we are no longer presenting medical affairs and regulatory within G&A. We feel these expenses require dedicated narrative, and presenting them separately will add value to investors by providing a better understanding of variances for such costs. G&A expenses for Q4 2021 were CAD 1.9 million as compared to CAD 0.6 million for Q4 2020.
G&A expenses for fiscal year 2021 were CAD 5.4 million as compared to CAD 2.6 million for fiscal year 2020. The Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021 G&A expenses were impacted respectively by CAD 0.4 million and CAD 0.9 million non-recurrent special provision for a bank fraud disclosed as part of our Q3 2021 results. The non-recurrent special provision has been eliminated from our adjusted EBITDA calculation. The net amounts include CAD 0.1 million recovered from various initiatives, some of which are still ongoing. Following this event, the corporation's management and board of directors have implemented a series of initiatives to prevent such events from happening again, including changes to its personnel and leadership team to address the needs of the organization.
G&A expenses for Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021 also included a CAD 0.2 million settlement amount for the termination of the distribution agreement with Atnahs Pharmaceuticals for the Canadian rights to ondansetron. The decision to terminate the agreement was made following the deterioration of market conditions for the product, including increased competition and reduced pricing. Now we'll discuss medical affairs and regulatory expenses. In order to support our fast-growing branded product portfolio, we have expanded our medical affairs QA/QC and regulatory team and activities. Our medical affairs and regulatory expenses have increased from CAD 0.3 million- CAD 1.3 million between Q4 2020 and Q4 2021. The same expenses have increased from CAD 0.9 million- CAD 2.2 million between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021.
The expansion of our QA/QC department, the hiring of a new senior VP med affairs, as well as a team of four medical sales liaison professionals, was required to support the launch of Enerzair and Atectura, as well as provide better support for the other products within our portfolio. In addition to staff increases, these costs cover the cost for performing advisory boards and other programs aimed at increasing scientific knowledge, support, and education for our new products within each respective regional markets. Over time, we expect these expenses to trend downwards as a percentage of revenue as we take full advantage of the market opportunities for our branded portfolio, product portfolio. Med affairs and reg expenses for Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021 also included a CAD 0.2 million non-recurrent impairment charge for regulatory expenses and filing fees previously capitalized as intangibles.
The charge for impairment followed a decision to no longer develop caspofungin, piperacillin/tazobactam, and methadone. The decision to abandon these programs was driven by changes in the market conditions and regulatory requirements to bring these products to market. I'll comment on our financial expenses. Our financial expenses increased by 182% and 107% respectively for the Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021 periods as compared to the prior year periods. These increases were due to a series of debenture financings closed over the past year. Valeo secured debenture financing of CAD 2.2 million in Q2 2020 and CAD 1.7 million in Q3 2020, as well as CAD 6.6 million non-convertible debenture financing in April 2021, which was partly repaid at the start of the Q4 2021 quarter.
The increase includes the effective interest costs for the various debentures outstanding. The effective interest cost captures the cost relative to the issuance of warrants as a means of reducing the actual interest on such instruments. These financing contributed to increase our financing costs from CAD 0.2 million in Q4 2020 to CAD 0.5 million in Q4 2021 and from CAD 0.6 million- CAD 1.3 million between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 periods. Lease interest charge has also doubled between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021 at CAD 0.1 million. The increase was due to the expansion and extension of our head office and warehouse lease needed to support our growth. Financial expenses for fiscal year 2021 have been impacted by a favorable CAD 0.1 million FX gain versus nil in the prior year.
Subsequent to year-end 2021, the corporation secured a CAD 25 million convertible financing to help fund the growth of its commercial activities. The interest on the new three-year debenture is 12%. The CAD 25 million financing was used to repay or convert the balance of the April 2021 bridge for CAD 3.2 million, as well as convert CAD 0.8 million of the July 2020 nonconvertible financing. This transaction improved our working capital by reducing our short-term debt repayment obligation. Following the April 2021 financing, warrants issued as part of the transaction were reported as equity instruments. Upon further review of the facts and the circumstances, it was determined that the warrants did not meet the definition of equity instruments and would have been instead accounted as a derivative warrant liability. Therefore, the previous equity allocation of the warrants was reallocated to the liabilities.
Their initial fair value was totally calculated using Black-Scholes model, and the accreted interest expense was recalculated on the basis of the new parameters. The derivative warrant liability is subsequently measured at fair value using Black-Scholes model. The effect of this reallocation created a loss of CAD 0.1 million for Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021 compared to nil for the corresponding fiscal year 2020 period. Going forward, until the April 2021 warrants are converted or expire, the change in fair value of the derivative instruments between the end of each period will be expensed on our statement of loss. I'll comment on our operating loss and EBITDA.
For each of Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021 periods, the growth of revenue and margins have been offset by the addition of staff and expenses required to position Valeo for solid revenue growth in fiscal year 2021 and beyond. The creation of the two business units, as well as the expansion of Valeo's commercial and medical and head office team, were required to capitalize on the significant market opportunities for Redesca, Enerzair and Atectura, as well as to accelerate the growth of existing products within our portfolio. During Q4 2021 and fiscal year 2021, our net loss was also impacted by the increase in financial expenses as well as the material non-recurring expenses such as the Atnahs settlement, intangible impairments, hiring fees, as well as the special provision for the fraud described earlier.
Considering the above, our net loss for Q4 2021 stood at CAD 7.7 million as compared to CAD 1.2 million in Q4 2020, and our net loss for fiscal year 2021 stood at CAD 14.2 million compared to CAD 4.8 million for fiscal year 2020. Going forward, we intend to leverage our new corporate and commercial infrastructure to capitalize on market potential of our existing products, but also to accelerate our growth and profitability by expanding our commercial pipeline. Same as for our net loss analysis, our EBITDA loss reflected the net impact of the creation of our new commercial and corporate structure, while not yet showing the commercial benefit of our product portfolio.
EBITDA loss in Q4 was CAD 6.7 million compared to CAD 0.9 million in Q4 2020, and our EBITDA loss in fiscal year 2021 was CAD 12 million compared to CAD 3.8 million in fiscal year 2020. We believe that adjusted EBITDA is a better indication of our financial performance. Our adjusted EBITDA loss includes adjustment for non-recurrent expenses such as share-based compensation, the Atnahs Pharmaceuticals settlement, the impairment charges to intangible assets, hiring fees for the creation of our new team, as well as special provision for the bank fraud. Such adjustments total CAD 1.3 million for Q4 2021 compared to CAD 0.4 million in Q4 2020, and CAD 3.5 million adjustments for fiscal year 2021 as compared to CAD 1.1 million in fiscal year 2020.
Following such adjustments, our adjusted EBITDA loss in Q4 was CAD 5.5 million compared to CAD 0.5 million in Q4 2020 and CAD 8.5 million in fiscal year 2021 compared to CAD 2.6 million in fiscal year 2020. I will now comment on our cash flow and financial resources. Cash used in operation was CAD 12.6 million in fiscal year 2021 compared to CAD 5.3 million in fiscal year 2020. The CAD 7.3 million increase was mainly due to the increase in our net loss of CAD 9.7 million, partly offset by CAD 1.8 million increase in items not affecting cash and CAD 0.4 million reduction in non-cash working capital requirements.
Other items not affecting cash, such as share-based compensation for CAD 1 million compared to CAD 0.5 million the prior year, as well as impairment charges for CAD 0.2 million in fiscal year 2021 compared to nil in fiscal year 2020. Changes in non-cash working capital component used CAD 1.4 million of cash in fiscal year 2021 compared to CAD 2.1 million in the prior year. During each of fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021, inventory levels have increased significantly at year-end, but were offset by a similar increase in trade payables settled subsequent to the end of the year. Prior to the year-end 2021, we received a large CAD 3.5 million Redesca shipment which impacted both our inventory and accounts payable levels. The payables related to this Redesca shipment were settled following the closing of the December financing.
Cash used by investing activities to acquire intangibles and other assets during the period was CAD 2.3 million for fiscal year 2021 as compared to CAD 1.3 million for fiscal year 2020. During fiscal year 2021, cash was invested to acquire the Canadian rights to Enerzair and Atectura, as well as to expand our head office and warehousing to support our growth. During fiscal year 2021, Valeo secured three different financings. Financing activities provided net cash of CAD 15.1 million, including CAD 10.1 million net from the impact of the CAD 11.5 million unit financing secured in June 2021.
CAD 3.4 million net from the April bridge financing, which was partly repaid during the year, and CAD 1.7 million from the exercise of warrants, options, and compensation options. Cash at the end of fiscal year 2021 was CAD 2 million, compared to CAD 2.8 million at the end of the prior year, representing a CAD 0.8 million decrease. As mentioned earlier, we've completed a CAD 24 million convertible financing subsequent to year-end 2021. The financing significantly improved our financial position by strengthening our balance sheet and providing cash to fund our working capital and operations until the growth of our revenue and margins cover our operating requirements. We believe that based on our current and projected revenue growth, we have adequate capital until we meet our breakeven objectives by the end of fiscal year 2022.
After considering the net impact of the December financing, our year-end cash position would have been CAD 22 million, and our working capital would have improved to CAD 20.6 million, an increase of CAD 23.5 million over the CAD 3 million deficit at year-end 2021. Before I turn the call back to Steve, let me provide preliminary comments on our Q1 2022 results for the three-month period ended January 31st, 2022. As expected, our Q1 2022 revenues will be significantly up over Q1 2020 and will show strong growth over the prior Q4 2021 quarter. In addition to growing our revenue during the quarter, we also received a CAD 0.8 million order in Q1 that was only delivered in Q2. Our Q2 2022 numbers will benefit from this early start in addition to the revenue momentum evidenced in Q1.
Considering the growth in revenue is derived from higher margin products such as Redesca and Enerzair and Atectura, our gross margin contribution in Q1 2022 is expected to show significant gains over the corresponding prior periods, both in terms of percentage and dollars. On the expense side, we are seeing our operating expenses stabilize compared to the prior quarter after deducting all the non-recurrent items that impacted our results in Q4 2021. The growth in revenues and margins as well as the stable level of operating expenses will help drive sequential reduction of our loss and improvement of our EBITDA performance. We look forward to commenting on our Q1 2022 results later in March. This concludes the financial review part of the call, and I will now turn back the call to Steve.
Thank you, Luc and Fred. We are now ready to open the call up for questions. Although this portion of the call is reserved for questions from financial analysts, we invite any of our shareholders or any other interested parties to contact us directly with any questions they may have, and we will endeavor to get back to you as quickly as we can. Operator, you may now proceed with the questions part of this call.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will then hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star followed by two. If you're using a speakerphone, we do ask that you please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Please go ahead and press star one now if you have a question. Your first question will be from Scott McAuley at Paradigm Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the questions and congrats on a great quarter and quite the 2021. I'm looking forward to things moving forward in 2022. Just a few quick things from me. First on kind of the new corporate structure and if kind of down the road, we should expect to see kind of reporting revenues broken out according to either those different business units or kind of product-specific revenues. If you have an idea of, you know, if you will be doing that and kinda when we could start seeing that down the road?
Luc, I think that's a good question for you.
Yeah. Thanks, Scott, and thanks for joining the call. Yes, this is the intent, but as you can assess, the contribution of the new respiratory business unit is not yet enough material for us to commit to such presentation. We believe that by the end of this year, probably starting either end of this FY 2022 or the start of 2023, we'll be presenting our revenues in the various commercial segments. I don't expect that for 2022 we'll be using that presentation.
Yep. No, that's great. And on the GPO contracts, you know, I think you signed the two for Redesca and other products over the past year. Have they been, you know, contributing significantly? Are there other kind of discussions, either in the near term, or kind of over the next year where you'll be signing new GPO contracts for to kind of expand the Redesca opportunity?
Maybe, Steve, I can take that. Yep.
Sure, go ahead.
Thank you, Scott, for asking, and maybe two elements here to bring to your attention. Actually, in terms of signing with GPOs, the contracts are fully signed. But in terms of implementation, we still need to work on in some provinces, at least on a hospital-to-hospital basis. It's like we have set the scene, but now our sales team is really working on specific hospital listings. Here, two points to report. The first one is c ertainly from the time of the initial effective date of GPO contract to implementation, we have seen hospitals taking more time to switch from one product to a biosimilar. That is mainly reported as a consequence of COVID-19 priorities around, of course, dealing with COVID-19 patients, which have been delaying the necessary time to organize the switch to Redesca in particular, and the same thing to other biosimilar.
We have seen, even though the number of hospitals buying now is growing, more specifically with additional hospitals coming from Quebec, which is a good sign. Now we are waiting for the effective signing date from hospitals coming from Ontario. Overall, there is a COVID-19 delay that has been seen over the implementation of such contracts, so that's explaining partially what we are seeing today. Again, the point here, Scott, is the GPOs contracts themselves are already signed, so they will stay for about three years, three-year period of time.
That's great. The focus is more on the kind of the ground game of getting the specific hospitals signed on versus signing additional GPOs.
Yes, exactly. One element maybe to add to that is that because the originator, Lovenox in this case, will be delisted from some jurisdictions, it will certainly help, you know, to speed up the process of adding hospitals listing effectively Redesca. We are waiting now three or four provinces, potentially delisting effectively the originator Lovenox.
That's great. That was gonna be one of my other follow questions on that delisting process for Lovenox. That is kind of ongoing and you're expecting additional provinces to go through with that in the near term.
Yes, definitely, Scott. Again, just, it's part of the biosimilar framework that provinces have been willing to put in place. The leading provinces here are British Columbia, Ontario. Quebec also has done this kind of move, and we expect some provinces in Atlantic Canada to do the same.
That's great. On more of the corporate side, I know one of the areas that you highlighted kind of late last year was around kind of an up listing onto the TSX. Just wondering if that's still kind of priority in the near term or midterm, and how you see that moving forward.
Yeah, Scott, it's Steve Saviuk here. Yes, clearly we've made the application. We're in discussions with the TSX, and our efforts are around accessing and attaining that listing in the coming months. We're still 100% going forward with that.
Excellent. Just lastly from me, and I'll hop in the queue. Just to put a narrow point on it, in terms of the profitability expectations that you're saying, end of 2022, you mean, end of fiscal 2022 or end of kind of calendar 2022 being kinda Q1 fiscal 2023?
The target is.
Yeah.
Yeah. Sorry, Steve.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
No, I was gonna say it's fiscal 2022. I mean, that's our fiscal year end, as you know, is October. The targets and as I mentioned and Luc has mentioned and Fred also, it's way up there in terms of our objectives. It's a very important milestone for us to reach for many reasons, as you could well imagine. You know, all our efforts are there. As Luc said, our costs are now flat, pretty you know, fairly flat. We've ramped up significantly, but now I've hit that level where we don't see cost increases. It's now working on product sales, product mix and margin.
Fantastic. Thanks, gentlemen. I'll hop back in the queue and let some other people ask some questions.
Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question, please press slowly star followed by one on your telephone keypad. Your next question will be from Paul Stewardson at iA Capital. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question on behalf of Chelsea. Just curious for some more color on kind of the expense outlook. Is Q4 representing a full quarter of, you know, the operating expenses that you guys are looking at for the fiscal 2022 year? Or is there anything sort of left in the scale-up process that we might see coming down the line?
Luc, if you could, handle that question.
Hi, Paul, and best regards to you and Chelsea. Yes, I guess your question is really important. What we are seeing in Q1 is that Q1 is actually slightly down compared to Q4 after eliminating non-recurring. As Steve mentioned, we've ramped up the team, the expenses, everything else, so now it's pretty stable. We now are, I guess, running on the full team and recurrent expenses are not expected to grow over 2022, and they're not expected to be above the Q4 level.
Okay. Yep. Perfect. Just one more from me. All the other questions I think were answered. In terms of Enerzair and Atectura specifically, when you're looking at sort of the Omicron impact of, you know, reduced doctor-patient visits, do you see coming out of the Omicron wave a bounce or is this more. You know, is this something that we could see really noticeably a bounce coming out of that? Or is that a little smoother in terms of your expectations there?
Fred, you should-
Yeah. Good morning, Paul. Yes, that's an important question. What we have seen basically is that Omicron has continued to, so to speak, not only condition our access to customers, but also patient visits. Basically, we have numbers here that are showing that doctors are now, of course, following patients remotely as well. That to a greater extent during, of course, the peak of the pandemic. We should expect now to see, I would say probably, the rate of visits and the rate of access for our representatives to normalize. I'm not sure that we will see bouncing back, but normalizing would be an interesting move. Don't forget that those are very large markets.
If we consider where we are starting from now, I mean, we still have plenty of opportunities ahead of us. Basically asthma is affecting hundreds of thousands of patients. Even in under the current condition, I think we have largely space to move. Of course, normalization of conditions will help the process of getting, you know, more doctors on board with visiting in-person patients, which is more favorable to initiating new treatments. That should have a favorable effect.
Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. That's helpful. Thank you so much, guys.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question will be from Andre Uddin at Research Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, Steve, Fred, and Luc. Just looking at Redesca, some of my questions were answered, but are you still seeing significant brand loyalty with Lovenox?
Fred, can you please answer that?
Andre, good morning. You've seen that the numbers I was talking about this morning is that in a few months, basically, let's say six months' time from the launch of biosimilars, the erosion is already equivalent in the last data set that we have received for January. We have already 25% erosion rate. I think to answer your question, if you take the clinical standpoint from clinicians working in hospitals, they still need a bit of education as far as biosimilars are concerned because we have seen questions arising, you know, in terms of quality, in terms of supply, in terms of efficacy and safety profile.
That's why we are also working very much on education, especially because those departments using low molecular weight heparin were not necessarily, prior to those biosimilar launches, exposed to other biosimilars. There is an education component. You've seen a few months have been sufficient to already erode 25%, and the rate will be accelerating as a consequence of hospital listings. Honestly, hospital listings are mainly driven by the economic equation around biosimilars. The second aspect, as I mentioned before, is because the originator will be delisted from the retail standpoint, I think both component of the equation will speed up the switch process.
Honestly, I'm not expecting, you know, Lovenox in six months' time to still have a larger part of the market. Down the road, I mean, we see hospital making decisions clearly on the economical factor first, but also on the strengths of the supply. As you know, many supply challenges have been raised since COVID-19, and definitely the ability for a manufacturer to supply is also a key part of the decision.
Yeah. That's useful. Thanks, Fred. Just also wondering, in terms of the insurance claims that you filed for your cyber attack that occurred last year, could you just give us a little bit of color on where that is?
I think.
Yeah. Yeah. Andre, the claim came-
Okay.
I mean, the recovery we got actually was a recovery from the insurance. You know, we were not covered for the full extent of the loss, so that was factored in. We still have some ongoing initiatives to recover part of the monies that were, I guess, involved in this situation. Right now we're projecting nil, but anything positive will be factored in our Q2 numbers. Right now it's fully factored, Andre, so nothing else that you should expect coming from the insurance.
Okay. Just looking at fiscal, this fiscal year, to get to breakeven by end of the year, what sort of rough revenue range would we need to see?
Of course, as you know, I've said that many times, it all based on product mix. If the mix of revenue is derived from the growth of, you know, Redesca, Enerzair and Atectura and, you know, to a lesser extent, you know, we're expecting growth with other products that are high margins, such as Yondelis and Onstryv. The magic number that we are forecasting is roughly CAD 14 million-CAD 15 million. We believe that we're gonna get there. Our initial projection actually was that we would ramp up Redesca much quicker and then plateau at the end of the year.
From the delays in GPO signing and hospital contract signing, and by the time lag between signing and hitting our revenue, we actually expect to have more of a, I don't wanna say a hockey stick, growth curve, but we're gonna be, you know, experiencing, you know, faster, QoQ growth of Redesca, expected versus, as I said, a big jump early in the year and then plateau. Bottom line, you know, we are still on target to meet that CAD 15 million, which is, you know, what was in the plan, by the end of the year. Q4 is our target to break even exiting the year, on the basis of those sales.
Okay. Just looking ahead now, last question here. Just, what's your appetite to add new products for this fiscal year? You've got some cash still, so I'm just wondering.
I'll answer, Fred, and maybe you could add on. Clearly when we look at new products now, we're looking at products that can be, that can leverage our existing team and leverage our existing framework. We have some discussions ongoing in that area. We're also looking at products that can be accretive earlier. So we're looking less emphasis on products that need to be registered or they're just finishing their clinical trial, and more emphasis on products that maybe are close to approval, have been approved or are already in the market, but aren't being supported commercially by their current holder and where we could add that commercial support and grow those revenues. Fred?
Yeah. Maybe just one point to add, Steve, which is definitely just to keep in mind one aspect of it is that our current focus, of course, is on our current products. I'm saying so because at the time we're adding product, there is potentially a kind of diversification impact on the team, but we are making sure that we are keeping the focus on delivering in this critical launch of sales for our current product. Certainly the additional new product, as Steve said, would bring top line at the same time, but without jeopardizing the ability to grow our current portfolio. Again, you've seen the potential numbers that we can extract, so that's certainly the way we wanna support our business.
Okay. That's great. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you do have a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. And at this time, gentlemen, we have no further questions. Please proceed.
Thank you, operator. Just in finalizing, 2021 was a strong year for Valeo. We really repositioned or positioned this company for significant growth in the years to come. We have the products, we have the team and a well-balanced structure of commercial and corporate activities to deliver and become one of the leading Canadian pharma companies. We already see 2022 shaping up to be another record year for Valeo. As Luc mentioned, strong growth has been attained in first quarter of 2021, and we expect this sequential strong growth to continue throughout the remainder of the year. As important as revenue growth is, one of our main objectives exiting the year is capital positivity, and we've talked about this and some of the questions have come up.
Resolute focus on being capital positive by the end of 2022. All our employees at Valeo are shareholders. In some cases, management and the board are significant shareholders of the company. I also wanna take the time to thank them all personally for their great effort this year. As you know, COVID, we're all maybe a little tired of hearing about COVID, but it did impact the way people worked. They had to work from home, access to physicians, access to hospitals, the supply chain, and our team did a wonderful job of overcoming those limitations and delivering on this great year that we've just had. To our shareholders, I say rest assured that our interests internally and with our shareholders are fully aligned.
To Canadian patients, I say that we will do everything in our power to ensure that we can bring the best of innovation from around the world. We have that with these two new asthma therapies, Redesca being a big component in saving money for the provinces which can be redeployed. I'd like to thank you for your continued interest and support. We look forward to keeping you up to date on all our exciting developments in the months to come, and we'll be seeing you shortly with our first quarter call, which will be coming up within the next month. Thank you again. Operator, I turn the mic over to you.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, this does indeed conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending. At this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good day.